THE LAST OF THE SOCKS

 (Or is it?)

This box of socks, all of which once hung on a fence, is being discarded, with a heavy heart, because of the memories of the fleet unfooted items, flying in the breeze on a fence, in protest, in decoration, for a laugh, however you saw them.

They have been in hiding, for want of a new project, but, over time, they have lost their luster and now they stink of mice, and decay and indifference.

vive la chausette!

 

What does it mean? Not, surely, that this ....

The fence is alive and well

THE FULL AND SAD TALE

It seems, overnight, someone or a number of ones, placed two items on or inside the fence at the Old Esplanade Hotel site, Middleton Beach, Albany, Western Australia.

As you will note, by the number of entries on this blog site, this is not new. What is new is the speed of their withdrawal.

Here's the rumour mill tale.

The Mayor of the City, Dennis Wellington, spotted the following while leaving the Three Anchors cafe and restaurant.

He then noted a small gathering around the gate to the sand and weed filled site. This is what he saw:

Most viewers thought these two items funny and, occasionally, hilarious, but not the Mayor, he, the rumour mill maintains, burst a pipe and made no secret of it.

When this writer attended the scene, he found the agent for the property, Jeremy Stuart, leaving the gate behind him and no sign of any sign. Gone. Removed.

One new addition to the fence was left, however, and what a generous gesture, given the time of year.

Things got worse.
People held their anger.
Go look here

THE 2013 WEST AUSTRALIAN STATE ELECTION IN FENCE POSTERS - ALBANY

During the recent West Australian State election, the Albany Liberal candidate failed to abide by local precedence and city by-law.

The candidate's team failed to obtain permission from the site owner, fence owner, real estate agent, City Council, or nearby restaurant owners, to place election material on the fence. In fairness, it should be made clear that no-one can get permission from the site owner to do anything, as the site owner cannot be contacted. And currently no local real estate agent has responsibility for sale of the bloack. 

However, it should be made clear that the City's previous CEO gave verbal permission to the Urban Sock Bombers Collective (USBC)  to hang items on the fence and a previous agent for the owners provided the USBC with a key to a locked gate and access to the site.

There is more.

Albany's Esplanade Hotel site is an entertainment precinct. Supporters of the candidate, in an attempt to improve his prospects, proceeded to add entertainment value to the poster.

In response, other, less imaginative locals, allowed the posters to remain on the fence.

The Liberal candidate did not win.

Early one morning the poster with the sock in the candidate's mouth (note the blank space on the left) was removed by someone opposing his chances, someone clearly not aware of the entertainment value   of the poster.

 

 

These speak for themselves.

 

  This sign appeared on the fence in Spencer Park (Albany) surrounding government owned land; designated "low cost housing", it once featured a block of 30 units.

 

After it was noticed that the above sign lost it's blue and red, overnight it miraculously found new words:

 

The sign below appeared on the Esplanade site fence (since removed) and the other on the North Road, Albany, fence next to the City offices (since removed). 

 

Not surprising that this should appear in a local paper

Signage under fire

KEIR TUNBRIDGE, Albany AdvertiserUpdated March 15, 2013

  

The saturation of political signage across Albany in the lead-up to last Saturday’s election and on polling day has come under fire from voters. It comes after Liberal candidate Trevor Cosh was criticised on Tuesday by Labor opponent Peter Watson for an “American- style” campaign.

Both Nationals candidate Robert Sutton and returned member for the seat of Albany Mr Watson have called for all forms of political advertising to be banned on election day — and it seems from the big response to the issue on the Albany Advertiser’s Facebook page, many voters would agree.

Michelle Irving posted on our page that the amount of signage was “visual pollution”, while Jill Larsen said it was “absurd overkill”.

Jodi McFarlane said an “incredible amount” of paper had been wasted, while Trish Khoo said she returned to sender all the political mail she received.

Mr Watson and Mr Sutton don’t disagree with our Facebook followers, believing voters should not be bombarded with how-to-vote cards and political signage as they walk into polling places. Both men believe political material on election day should be restricted, with Mr Sutton saying at least 20 people were handing out material at the Mt Lockyer Primary polling station alone on Saturday.

“We were having people coming up bloody grumpy, and understandably so,” Mr Sutton said.

“Don’t hassle people, just let them go and make their decision without the hassle.”

Mr Watson said political parties could save money and voters could enjoy election day without being saturated with advertising.

“I’d be quite happy if people went to a polling booth without having to run the gauntlet,” he said.

Both men called for more controls to be placed on political signage and letterbox advertising in the weeks and months leading up to elections.

WA Electoral Commission communications manager Justin Harbord said questions had been raised about the amount of signage in Albany, and a minor controversy had arisen after some signs were erected too early.

He said the WAEC would review the issue, but believed a blanket ban was not necessary.

Mr Cosh said he would welcome clearer guidelines from the WAEC on advertising and, as far as he knew, he had not broken any rules and most of his signage had been taken down the day after the election.

full story

 

 

 

 

SOCKS AND BIKES

A NEW ADDITION TO THE FENCE

THESE BIKES ARE SITTING IN FRONT OF THE DISTILLERY, FRENCHMAN BAY ROAD, AND ARE PART OF A MEN'S RESOURCE CENTRE PROJECT

stop off, try a sip, check the bikes

 AND THIS IS AN EARLIER TALE FROM THE ADVERTISE WHICH EXPLAINS EVERYTHING

SECRET SOCK BUSINESS

LATEST ACTS OF RANDOM PUBLIC ART: Albany, WA (If you haven't been here, you're missing)

Socks again.
Esplanade fence again.

This bike appeared, surrounded by locks.All have stayed.

 

Gamam fence style

The bus stop outside the Albany Town Hall. Who are these people? So much time with their hands.

UPDATED POST

Two wonderful additions to Perth's cultural scenery

Photo by Michelle Michau Crawford 

Nice Letter, well written, well thought through

You can't keep a good movement down

The Urban Sock Bombers have struck again.

This time in Spencer Park, on a site designated "low cost housing".

A spokesperson for the USB said: The USB Collective recently took delivery of a major sock-stash, so if you own a block of land, or a site, in the Great Southern Region, and you're just sitting on it, waiting for property values to hit the sky, and you have no sense of community responsibility, expect to be socked!"

The Latest Fence Installation: Prayer Flags

This flag installer doesn't look like the leader, more like a clown who was walking by and decided to get in on the action.

THE MANIFESTO

The clothes strips on the Esplanade Hotel site fence are prayer flags and have been attached to reflect on the original meanings of both Easter and Anzac Day and to bless the site and its future. The flags have a spiritual context and following completion of the installation words were spoken over the flags. Spokesmen for the group who attached the flags said any attempt to remove them would be considered “offensive and insulting.”

“Our group is responsible solely for the flags and any other attachments are the work of other, unaffiliated groups or individuals,” said the spokesmen. “Whether we agree with the perceived sentiments in other attachments, or not, we believe in the democratic spirit and all segments within the community to express themselves in a public forum.

“Given the fence has become a permanent fixture in the town and that many in the community have embraced it as a public forum it is up to the city’s leadership group to acknowledge this fact and allow continued expressions.”

Spokesmen said that China had allowed the residents of Hong Kong freedom of expression and that maybe the fence should be declared Albany’s “Hong Kong”.

On the fence for a very short time

Was it pinched, or removed by council workers in response to an order?

Albany Advertiser March, 2011 - Kerri Slaven cartoon

Albany Advertiser 24/3/2011, cartoon by Kerri Slaven

ALBANY CITY INVADED BY WHITE ELEPHANTS

A Statement from the White Elephant Brigade

The White Elephant Brigade takes full responsibility for the profusion of White Elephants that appeared in and around the Albany CBD on the morning of April 1, 2011.

A spokesperson for the brigade said: “This group distributed the artistically and culturally sensitive elephants to a range of locations.”

“On the said night a brakeage did occur at a location containing items of high cultural value, namely the city library. The Brigade condemns such action and if the perpetrator became known to this group this group would inform the appropriate local authorities.

“The White Elephant Brigade is a loose group of intelligent artists and professionals intent on undertaking action for non-specific purposes but always with the aim of stimulating, causing questions and not to damage, deface, or in any way alter public facilities or facilities commonly accepted as party to a public issue.

“It is not the intention of Brigade members to inform the receiver of the visual installation what the installation means. This is insulting, demeaning and culturally offensive in a vibrant democratic society and against the articles of the Brigade.”

The Brigade spokesperson said viewers of the white elephants might want to ask themselves the following questions:

Are the elephants of a high visual quality?

Is there any evidence to suggest they relate to the Albany Entertainment Centre?

Are they in response to the content of an ABC Stateline program broadcast on Friday March 25, 2011?

Does the white elephant relate to a “rare, expensive possession that is a financial burden to maintain”, or rather, a “rare exotic creature that is endangered and must be preserved at all cost”?

Does the specific date April 1 have any history, any meaning and could it have influenced the elephant distribution?

The White Elephant Brigade (WEB) wants to make it quite clear that it is in no way associated with the Urban Sock Bombers Collective (USB).

A spokesperson for the Brigade said: “Some of our group had been members of the USB but left on consideration that the USB lacked strong leadership and had lost its way in the mire of urban politics.”

Some old items newly scanned

Recently my scanner decided it would no longer work.

Here are some items I would have scanned sooner, had my scanner worked.

These items were scanned with my new scanner.

(You know how hard it is to find a simple scanner in a shop? No-one wants one any more. What they want is a massive 16-jobs-in-one-huge-thing scanner thing. I found one, tucked away on a back shelf. The attended was embarrassed to sell it to me.)

BIKES:

SOCKS: